Katherine D. Brodie founded and heads the Washington, D.C. team of the firm’s established and respected national higher education law and policy practice. She serves as a team lead for the Duane Morris Education industry group. She is one of a small number of attorneys in the United States with a daily practice devoted primarily to the needs of higher education institutions (non-profit, public and proprietary), higher education associations, higher education companies, and investors in higher education. She has a keen interest in supporting institutions and their partners to effectively lead and adapt to the fast pace of change in the U.S. education sector while maintaining high quality postsecondary educational services as measured in cost and student outcomes.

Katherine supports her clients with effective and cost-efficient regulatory advice geared toward identifying and reducing operational risk or facilitating acquisitions, lending and other transactions that promote institutional adaptation and innovation. When necessary, she advocates in defense of institutional interests in response to adverse federal, state or accrediting agency actions with the goal of limiting both institutional liability and the likelihood of reoccurrence through strengthened internal controls.

Ms. Brodie’s experience includes, among other areas of the law, U.S. Department of Education Title IV student financial aid regulations and accrediting agency standards including substantive change (ownership and governance, program, location and other changes), Title IX compliance and response, campus safety, marketing (federal and state misrepresentation prohibitions), distance education, foreign school and overseas operations including study abroad programs, affiliation and partnership agreements, and skills focused programs including coding boot camp and other short term courses. Her advice also includes compliance with U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Student Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), U.S. Department of Veterans (VA)/U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) education benefit, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding, state education grant program, and other federal and state regulations and programs relevant to institutional operations. Because the needs of institutions are so diverse, she is often aided in her work by subject matter experts in the firm’s other disciplines including tax, real estate, immigration, corporate, and trial.

She is a frequent speaker and writer on higher education topics and trends and, as a registered federal lobbyist, advocates before the U.S. Congress and U.S. Department of Education on higher education policy reform proposals.

Areas of Practice

Accreditation and State Licensure

Civil Rights Compliance

Distance Education

Foreign Schools, Foreign Operations and Study Abroad

Governance

Student Financial Aid

Government Investigations

Administrative Law

Representative Matters

Obtained a ruling from the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia in favor of the American Association of Cosmetology Schools, a trade association of proprietary colleges in the cosmetology field, finding the U.S. Department of Education’s Gainful Employment Rule arbitrary and capricious with respect to application to association schools.

Assist Title IV participating institutions of higher education with responding to and limiting the scope of, and liabilities or fines associated with, Title IV program reviews and audits related to federal student financial aid programs, including Clery Act reviews.

Serves as counsel to university affiliated medical center regarding accreditation and related issues.

Serves as counsel to coding boot camp provider regarding state law compliance, accreditation and marketing issues.

Serves as education regulatory counsel to buyers, sellers and investors in sale or acquisition of postsecondary institutions including state, accrediting agency and U.S. Department of Education compliance regarding same.

Experience assisting institutions of higher education in responding to state education agency and state attorney general requests for information and formal investigations.

Assisted study abroad program provider with strategic restructuring to meet accreditation and other long term operational goals.

Provide tailored counsel to universities and colleges on campus sexual misconduct policies and procedures – Title IX and Clery Act.

Webinar: "Gainful Employment Rule Compliance: Steps and Strategies for Finding Your Way Forward" for the membership of the Pennsylvania Association of Private School Administrators, August 5, 2015

Webinar: "Gainful Employment Rule Reporting: An 'Up Against the Deadline' Final Review of Reporting Requirements and Q&A with Education Lawyers" for the membership of the Pennsylvania Association of Private School Administrators, July 15, 2015

Webinar Presenter: Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA) and Title IX Requirements for Postsecondary Institutions, American Association of Cosmetology Schools, June 25, 2015

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